Smuggler charged £1,500 per person to bring Vietnamese migrants to UK | UK | News

An Iraqi national was involved in a ‘dangerous’ people smuggling ring that facilitated illegal immigrants’ entry into the UK via small boats.

Ramal Briem referred to migrants as ‘chickens’ in messages exchanged with an accomplice, where they discussed the illicit Channel crossings.

The 33 year old, hailing from Wolverhampton, conspired to smuggle migrants across Europe and then into Britain at a cost of £1,500 per individual.

He is an ‘organised criminal, with others working for him, receiving significant financial renumeration’, Wolverhampton Crown Court was informed.

Prosecutor Cathlyn Orchard stated: « He is an established people smuggler. » 

The father has now been warned that he faces a substantial prison sentence and could face deportation.

Briem confessed to conspiracy to assist unlawful immigration on a basis, maintaining that he believed he was involved in the sale of cigarettes.

His basis was not accepted by the Crown Prosecution Service, resulting in a trial of issue taking place on Monday, February 9.

The Crown’s argument was that Briem was ‘frequently and on some scale’ engaged in transporting migrants from Vietnam, across eastern Europe on work visas, then to the ‘jungles’ near Dunkirk and Calais, in France.

From there, they would journey on small boats to the UK, where the Home Office would relocate them to migrant hotels.

The illegal immigrants – who financed the crossings themselves – would then be ‘collected’ from the hotels before ‘disappearing’ into the Vietnamese community.

All migrants involved are believed to be Vietnamese, with over 1,000 names discovered on a ledger confiscated by police.

The court was told how French police identified an individual within the UK whom they wished to place under a European arrest warrant.

That person is alleged to be the head of an organised crime group operating across Europe and involved in a ‘very substantial commercial enterprise’ smuggling Vietnamese nationals into the UK.

His partner, who was residing in Croydon, is said to have supplied phones and sim cards to migrants.

The wanted man was arrested in April 2024, with police seizing his devices and identifying Briem from messages between the two.

Briem, of Crawford Road, Chapel Ash, Wolverhampton, was subsequently arrested by the National Crime Agency.

In one message, the individual – known to Briem as ‘Kevin’ – asked the defendant: « Do you pick up chickens from Romania? »

Briem, who used a Vietnamese name during his contact, replied: « Tell me, any time bro, I come to help you. »

The defendant stated he would charge £1,500 ‘per chicken to bring them to the UK’, Ms Orchard said.

‘Kevin’ told Briem he currently had more than ’30 chickens in Dunkirk’, with an arrangement already in place with another people smuggler.

However, he said that he would give Briem ‘all of his custom’ in future, Ms Orchard told the court.

The defendant was then asked if he would offer any ‘free chickens’ as part of the deal. Briem responded, « OK, if you give me 20 chickens, two is free », with ‘Kevin’ consenting to ‘send him all the chickens he had’.

In subsequent messages, ‘Kevin’ informed Briem he had ‘two chickens in Romania’ and ‘three chickens in Hungary’, with the defendant being ‘responsible for collecting all five’.

‘Kevin’ also disclosed to Briem details of flights for migrants arriving in Romania, via Qatar.

Briem retorted by stating that he would dispatch someone to collect them, Ms Orchard revealed.

Another message suggested that ‘Kevin’ was providing money to Briem for the illicit immigration operation.

Correspondence between the duo also revealed that they both had employees working for them, the court was told.

It is believed that the individual known as ‘Kevin’ is awaiting extradition to France.

The court learned how Briem was in touch with a French phone number in March 2024.

That number was subsequently traced travelling into the UK on a lorry registered to the Netherlands.

When the lorry halted in Staffordshire, male migrants fled from the back of the lorry.

Briem testified, informing the court he was residing in Wolverhampton with his partner and children at the time.

Speaking through a Kurdish Sorani interpreter, he expressed that he ‘wanted to help Kevin out’.

However, he asserted he did not bring anyone to the UK and that he was ‘helping people who were already here’.

He confessed he admitted the charge because he ‘wanted to act as a facilitator’, agreeing that ‘chickens’ were people.

Briem maintained his stance that the money he received from ‘Kevin’ in Croydon was related to cigarette sales.

However, Judge Andrew Lockhart KC dismissed Briem’s account of events, concluding that he was at the ‘heart’ of the operation, acting as a ‘facilitator’ for moving migrants ‘across the continent’.

He determined that Briem, who had no prior convictions, ’employed others’ and labelled him a ‘serious organised criminal’.

The judge stated: « He has not told one iota of the truth here today.

« He should expect a sentence of some considerable length, one which no doubt mean he will be deported, but that would be a matter not for me, that will be a matter for the Home Office. »

Briem was held in custody and is set to be sentenced on 26 March.

Judge Lockhart informed him: « I have made findings that you are a serious organised criminal, making large amounts of money from dangerous immigration offences where people’s lives are put at risk on a daily basis.

« You have committed a very, very serious offence and will receive a substantial prison sentence from it that will be measured in many years in my judgement. »